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3 Reasons Why Collaboration Can Pay Off for Your Dental Practices (Part 1)

10/30/2018

"Leading from the patient's perspective is a game-changing strategy." - Dr. David Shen

Published on October 30, 2018
By: Trude Henderson

The dental industry continues to grow at a record clip, as the number of practicing dentists is projected to increase by 18 percent from 2014 to 2024, a much faster rate than the average for all occupations (U.S. News Staff, 2016). So dental practice leaders are tasked with strengthening their ability to identify and solve problems, adapt to customers’ wants and needs, and efficiently deliver high quality customer service. If you don’t respond by transitioning from a traditional command-and-control organizational structure to a team-centric model that inspires a culture of collaboration, your practice isn’t likely to gain or maintain a competitive advantage.
In his blog post, “How Effective Team Collaboration Equals Great Customer Service” (Customer Think. October 9, 2017) Ryan Kh explains why collaboration is critical in providing a superlative customer experience. The following are his reasons, accompanied by some thoughts of our own:

Collaboration improves efficiency. Thirty years ago, organizations had a relatively small number of people, armed with inadequate tools, charged with handling customer service, who could be overwhelmed when having to deal with complaining customers. We would add that today the tools are available, but many dental practices still don’t take advantage of them. ToothFairy’s 3-year pilot study revealed that efficiency greatly improved, as did customer service, when dental teams utilized simple and common collaborative tools such as Google Drive and cell phones, and held frequent (at least monthly) meetings, across teams and departments. The increase in communication and the frequent and real-time sharing of information made all the difference. Examples of such collaborative projects include marketing plans, practice improvement plans and employee team-building activities and volunteer work. Our advice: experiment with what’s out there until you find what works best for your practice.
Collaboration increases the amount and quality of knowledge. Bigger teams, says Kh, possess more knowledge, and are thus better equipped to answer customer’s questions and address their problems. We agree that the more knowledge the better, but would argue that you don’t have to have a large dental team to acquire it.

High Reliability Organizations are ‘continuous learners.’ Only dental practices who continuously enhance their knowledge will be able to effectively respond to change and/or answer patients’ objections effectively. At ToothFairy, we encourage dental teams, regardless of size, to continually expand their capacity to create desired results. From our experience, most employees want to learn and grow, and as the world continues to evolve technologically, it is indispensable to the growth and prosperity of your dental practice. The alternative to a learning culture is one that remains stationary, repeats mistakes and has high turnover, due to employees who are present in body but not in mind.
The market is flooded with books and e-learning courses aimed at improving basic customer service and sales techniques that can benefit staff and doctors. We at ToothFairy have found that vendors can also be very helpful in offering lunch-n-learns and even individual coaching sessions for staff and doctors—the key is asking for help. In addition, targeted social media groups offer a plethora of information and support, especially for supervisors, doctors and practice leaders. We would like to warn you, however, not to use patients’ real names or pictures, as this could violate HIPAA laws when participating online. In addition, we encourage you to ensure that you remain in compliance with state and federal employment laws when you ask employees to acquire knowledge. Most laws require that employees be compensated for their time anytime the information is required and work-related.

Collaborating with customers helps satisfy their needs, too. Collaboration shouldn’t be confined to company employees. Kh cites a global study conducted by Steven Van Bellegam, a managing partner at InSites Consulting, the results of which were published in Fast Company (May 9, 2013). Said Van Bellegam: “the conclusion is inescapable: the majority of consumers favor a self-service solution, including the safety net of personal contact if the consumer so chooses.” We agree, and recommend that as dental practices implement practice improvement solutions such as ToothFairy, it is important to include all stakeholders (patients, staff and doctors) in the process.

Says Dr. David Shen, an ToothFairy orthodontic advisor:
Collaborating with patients, or what Trude refers to as “Leading From the Patient’s Perspective,” is a game-changing strategy and will remain a top priority in my practice. When we asked patients for their help through ToothFairy’s e-survey Patient Communications Platform, it was obvious that they were glad to assist. As a result, we implemented many great ideas that have improved our practice all-around. The alternative is stagnant growth and patients who don’t feel valued and appreciated and as a result, take their complaints to social media for the world to hear.
Like employees, patients want to be heard and furthermore, now that millennials constitute such a large segment of the dental industry’s patient and parent base, it is increasingly important to include them as well as meet their needs.
We also recommend that you share news of your improvements with patients, as well as implement a ‘virtual open-door policy.’ For example, during our pilot study a mother indicated in a patient feedback survey that the doctor disregarded her daughter’s painful gum irritation caused by the rough edges of her aligners. After learning of the disappointment through a real-time feedback survey, a doctor called the mother and immediately resolved the issue. Furthermore, before hanging up, the doctor provided the woman with her email address, in case she had any future concerns.“Patients really appreciate having access to someone they perceive as having authority,” says Dr. Shen, but adds, “anyone can be successful if they are a good listener, empathetic and demonstrate that they are willing to take prompt action.”
At ToothFairy, we also recommend publicizing your findings and improvements in your practice newsletter, for example, so that your patients can keep up with how they have contributed to your practice improvements. This lets them know that you are listening, responding appropriately and actively improving the practice. It demonstrates, moreover, how their feedback has influenced the decision-making and quality improvement initiatives undertaken by your practice.
In his piece, Kh also discusses his “secrets to a collaborative customer service.” We will talk about these in our next blog (Part 2) as well as provide you with tips on how you can easily implement them in your dental practice.

Read our other articles regarding High Reliability Concepts below:
Ten Steps You Can Take Right Away to Improve the Reliability of Your Dental Practice
High Reliability Concepts: Insights of Value to any organization.

Trude Henderson is the co-founder of ToothFairy, a startup elective dental and medical practice improvement software company which delivers an unparalleled customer experience that inspires delight, loyalty and positive emotional connections to improve the lives of patients and the practices they visit. In 2016, she was the first to introduce High-Reliability Organizational Concepts to the dental industry. For questions, contact her directly at Trude@GetToothFairy.com. Follow Trude on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudehenderson/ (no email required).
Go to ToothFairy's website: www.ToothFairySoftware.com.

7 Key CX (Customer Experience) Principles for Dental Practices

10/21/2018

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Late engagement leaves opportunities, patient relationships and potential revenue on the table -Dr. David Shen

Published on October 21, 2018
By: Trude Henderson
According to a November, 2016 report by Salesforce, “The customer experience is now the Top Sales Benchmark.” With this said, we at ToothFairy believe that the power is in the people - your dental patients and your employees, all stakeholders - and it is they who determine if your dental practice excels or falls behind. We recently lighted upon an excellent blog (“7 Foundations of a Great CX Program,” CCW Fall Executive Report, February 21, 2017), by Ben Motteram that we think illuminates the truth of this assertion, and we would like to share it with you, the dental practice leader. The blog’s author, a proud native of Adelaide, Australia, says that he derived his “foundations” from the 9 principles for building the city from scratch enunciated by Edward Gibbon Wakefield in the 1820’s.
Below you will find Motteram’s 7 foundational principles for building a superb CX program, accompanied by some responses of our own:

Identify your purpose. Ask yourself why you are in business, what your organization is trying to accomplish, and, Motteram adds, “connect to your customer base, employees and other stakeholders by defining your mission, vision and values and communicating them widely.” We at ToothFairy, couldn’t agree more, and often recommend that dental practices take time out of their busy schedules, away from the practice, to have a collective discussion about this topic. For example, we suggest that at least once a year, teams review the practice’s mission statement, identifying strengths that the practice as a whole, a team or an individual has to offer patients. Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great, estimates that companies that remain mindful of their purpose outperform their peers by a factor of six!
Understand your customer’s distinctive value proposition. As Motteram writes: “Empathy is the key to your success!” Ask yourself why your customers come, stay with you, and go; conduct focus groups and surveys, observe customers as they use your products and services, and then “create a Customer Advisory Board and mandate that all executives are to spend time talking to customers on a regular basis.” We wholeheartedly agree and would add that because patients have more options open to them than ever before, it’s important for everyone in the practice to understand the unique value the practice has to offer. If it doesn’t align with what patients want or need, or if they don’t perceive it early enough, they might choose a competitor who they believe offers better value. That competitor may be right next door or on in another state, but in any case, people are willing to travel for a better value.

David Shen, DMD, recognized as one of the top 5 Invisalign® practitioners in the world, observes: Late engagement leaves opportunities, patient relationships and potential revenue on the table. ToothFairy addresses the value gap by facilitating early relationships between a practice and their patients— before they have their hearts set on any practice and before they have ever set foot in your door. In a society where people are hardwired to want things now, this is truly a game-changing strategy!

Focus on employee engagement. The author reminds us that many studies have demonstrated that disengaged employees have a negative impact on an organization’s CX. You should provide your employees with everything that they need to succeed, make sure that your hiring and training procedures are up to snuff, insert a CX-related feature into every employee job description and develop suitable company rewards for achieving CX strategy goals. We agree and invite you to take a look at Gallup’s work on helping leaders combat poor employee engagement.
Strive to identify what your customer is looking for. Says Motteram: “The experience you give customers is too important to leave to chance so define your aspirational customer experience as part of your CX strategy, sense check it with your customers, and then work towards making it a reality.” At ToothFairy, when we talk about making sure that people have a good “patient experience,” we mean not only showing patients that you care about them, but successfully meeting their physical and emotional needs as they relate to treatment.

Based on our experience, many practices focus on what they can do ‘to’ their patients, rather than striking a balance between the treatment they need and what they (the practices) can do ‘for’ them.’ One of the best ways to ensure that your patients are valued, appreciated and well-cared for is to utilize a good e-survey platform, with virtually burden-free analytics and alerts. One thing to remember, though: “Never ask a question about an issue that you are unwilling to address.” Collecting information and feedback and then failing to act on it has negligible value.

Then, strive to understand what your customer is currently undergoing during their entire experience with you. The author suggests that you do this by charting the route taken by the customer: “Develop a customer persona, select a discrete customer journey, list all the touch points that a customer has with you on that journey, then at each touch point determine what a customer is thinking, feeling and doing and how your organization is impacting their emotions.” An advanced Patient Communications Platform like ToothFairy is designed to give you, the dental practice owner, the opportunity to listen to, analyze and act on information, at each touch point, from the patient’s point-of-view, thus enabling you to achieve operational excellence and delight them. These insights, combined with a customer journey map, can produce a number of benefits, among them: peace-of-mind that you’re consistently delivering high-quality care in a comfortable, compassionate setting.
Be nimble. Nowadays, customer demands change at a lightning pace, and your organization must move with equal alacrity if it is to adapt. It is best, however, to desist from transformative changes; says Motteram, “be comfortable making small incremental, frequent changes as you move towards your aspirational experience.” We agree and would add that it’s important, when it comes to your staff, to ensure changes come with plenty of good communication, appreciation and fun.

Our 3-year pilot study revealed, for example, that saying ‘Thank you!’ often helps foster resilience. Employees who feel appreciated are more likely to endure the inevitable bumps in the road and continue moving forward, favorably impacting the patients in your practice. In addition, we recommend that you discuss and resolve issues on-the-spot, rather than waiting for the occasional conference room meeting, but make sure that all conversations regarding these matters are held out of earshot of your patients.
A daily huddle, if executed properly, can be one of the most effective leadership tools at your disposal for making small real-time, incremental changes. In fact, a well-executed huddle of five minutes can be more effective and inspiring than a twenty-minute, poorly-executed one.
7) Then, “measure and communicate success.” The author suggests that you use metrics to enable customers, employees and everyone else involved, to understand and appreciate the extent of your gradual progress in making the aspirational experience a reality. We would add that based on our experience, dental practices that encourage transparency usually have higher-performing teams than those that do not. As Peter Drucker said, “What gets measured gets improved.”
Transparency and trust go hand-in-hand. People who are open and honest generally inspire greater esteem and confidence than others. The same applies to leaders, customers and organizations. Our advice: utilize visual metrics in daily huddles to reward ‘right’ behaviors and help your team understand where they are now. Then, ask them ‘what or how’ questions like this: “What are the gaps that need to be filled in order to get where we want to be?” or “How do you propose that we accomplish this task?”
In short, we suggest that you, the dental practice leader, remain mindful of these 7 pointers while honing your CX program.

Trude Henderson is the co-founder of ToothFairy, a startup elective dental and medical practice improvement software company which delivers an unparalleled customer experience that inspires delight, loyalty and positive emotional connections to improve the lives of patients and the practices they visit. In 2016, she was the first to introduce High-Reliability Organizational Concepts to the dental industry. For questions, contact her directly at Trude@GetToothFairy.com. Follow Trude on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudehenderson/ (no email required).
Go to ToothFairy's website: www.ToothFairySoftware.com.

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3 Reasons Why Collaboration Can Pay Off for Your Dental Practices (Part 1)

7 Key CX (Customer Experience) Principles for Dental Practices

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